The moment we find ourselves
by AiriKatsu
Summary: Sometimes you just can't be the person that smiles and forgives. Sometimes you have to let your insecurities eat away at you luckily for Lee, he has a new companion to help him through it.LeeGaara Friendship fic... Fic for Crimsonchan


Katori: Hey, this is just a random musings thing, I don't even know if it's even good enough to put up on one is dedicated to Kayori Hoshi & Tane Tenshi as well as the norms of my dedications (you know who you are Hex, Ex, and Lucrecia).

I know that they don't very much like this couple, but Kayori is a huge fan, and I'd like to appoligize for my being unable to write a lemon for you guys, I just can't it's not in me to write rated R no matter how much I told myself it was for you...

Hope you understand

This is also a dedication to Crimson-chan… who is… just… wow….

She is that I believe to be the Goddess of all LeeGaara fics!

I wish I could spawn out these ideas like she does!

My good ones only come every once and a while…

CHECK OUT HER STORIES!

The Crimson Wing

This is a Lee DARK fic... I'm surprised I know HOW to do this but every once and a while it comes out and I have to get it out of my system

Lee-centric...

Other characters included:

Gaara, Neji, Tenten, Gai...

This can be taken two ways: as friendship, or as a really 'squint-your-eyes-and-read-between-the-lines-to-see-light-fluffly-LeeGaa' fic...

Enjoy and REVIEW

Naruto is not owned by me, if it was there would be a lot more of Lee and a HELL of a lot more of Gaara

& there would be these couples:

LeeGaa

ShikaTema

NaruHina

NejiTen

KanKiba

SasuSaku

But alas... I do not...

_**IF YOU HAVE A REQUEST FOR A STORY TO BE WRITTEN THAT INCLUDES ONE OR MORE OF THESE COUPLES I WILL GLADLY DO IT!**_

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Lee had had enough, he threw the deep maroon covers to the side and slowly sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes in a tired and annoyed fashion. His nerves were on end after only one hour of sleep and his whole body felt like he had been sleeping with over a thousand pounds of dead weight on his chest, legs, arms, and head. He blinked the sleep out of the corners of his eyes then groaned in his throat when the auburn orbs filled with moisture and became bleary after he yawned. He didn't bother to pull on a shirt as he groggily got to his feet and shuffled into the kitchen for his bottle of water that he had left untouched in the fridge. His pajama bottoms were riding on his hips and were only held there by the thin elastic band and drawstrings that were just tight enough to make sure it didn't fall down. He didn't much care about his attire, or lack thereof, because he was too aggravated with the world and its recent tendency to insure that he didn't get the proper rest he needed.

He used to be able to sleep like a rock with no one or force to ever awaken him from his unconscious state but lately any little thing was pulling him from his dreams. It could be someone passing by, or a cat a few blocks down but no matter what it jolted him so quickly that he had wondered if he had really been in a R.E.M cycle at all. He felt like he was waiting for something for the past few sleepless weeks, something important that he was sure to miss if he didn't catch it the instant it arrived. Lately a sort of schedule had developed, it had been many sleepless nights that had caused this routine to occur, ever since a few months ago. Lee had been sleeping peacefully and without a care in the world but now his dreams were plagued with past memories and dark, twisted images.

He sat down at his small kitchen table, sliding his arms across the smooth wooden surface and resting his elbows on it's cool texture while he idly sipped the bottle in his hands. He scanned the room with his eyes, taking in every detail around him as if searching for something amiss even though he knew there wouldn't be. The small flat held a very unused feel to it, everything looked as though he never used anything except for the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom for the small living room and spare room were untouched. The rooms were plainly colored forest and leaf greens with an oddly contrasting red leaf border around the kitchen and bathroom walls. There were a few homey touches here and there that Tenten had forced on him. These included a few plants that he had to water every second day, as well as a couple small cabinets that he kept spare paper in. Otherwise he knew that the place was small and bare, even more so when comparing it with Tenten or Neji's homes.

The tile floor was freezing to his bare feet, so he rested them on the table legs and curled up the toes to attempt to keep some warmth. He tried to recall the dream he had been having but all he had come up with so far was that it had a few faces from his very early childhood in it. He could handle those, but the pounding headache he suffered when he didn't get enough sleep he couldn't handle at all.

He shifted his attention to his hands and flexed his knuckle muscles, seeing as the scars and bruises rippled underneath his skin when he moved his arm or fingers. He remembered vividly every single scar that he had ever received from a fight, but he received more injuries from actually training then he did fighting an opponent. This was a reason why he didn't like sleep-loss, it make him remember things he didn't want to remember and he began to feel sorry for himself, which was also something he hated to do.

He tried to think of the positive, he really did, but that dark matter called doubt in the back of his mind was having a field day and before he could jump out of the ocean of despair it surged up above him and dragged him underneath.

What had he really accomplished in those years as a Genin? When he swore to do anything and everything to surpass the born geniuses with only taijutsu alone and gave up the futile attempts to do ninjutsu?

'I could do it if I tried!' he attempted to reach the surface of doubts and take a breath of air, but that thought was instantly smothered out by the suddenly more powerful doubt. 'No, the most you can do is stay on water for about a minute before falling in, Naruto could do that when he was 12!'. Amber eyes flashed with an intense pain; how dare he think of Naruto-kun in such a manner when the blonde shinobi had been down the exact path that he had been? The only problem was that Naruto had succeeded at his ambitions and Lee was still stuck in second last. To everyone Naruto was respected after all those years and Lee was just a shadow that the spotlight around his comrades created. Naruto may not have noticed, but he really was a genius, the type of genius that always succeeded, in the same way that Shikamaru was a strategist, Neji was intelligent, and Sasuke was resourceful...

Lee was a genius in the eyes of one person, and that person was the one he had always pushed him forwards and encouraged him to do his best... but he was one out of many that doubted him. 'Perhaps one is all I need...' Lee thought hopefully, but then countered his thoughts again, 'then again, what does one jounin know compared to the hokage and other more renowned jounin?'.

Lee was running in circles and he knew it; who had he ever beaten that counted; he had never really beaten Sasuke, he could never beat Neji, and when in the chunin exams Gaara had seen to his demise.

Gaara... Sabaku no Gaara, the most feared of his village and with proper reason too, the boy was a year younger then him and he had barely managed to give him a few scratches during their match and then had almost died for it. Not only that, but when it had really been his turn to show the world what he was REALLY made of he had to go and get drunk, the thought of it made him want to punch a hole through his bedroom wall. How could he be stronger when he was under the influence of alcohol then when he was sober, was he to go down as the ninja who did more damage then good in a fight? Then the same person who had broken him down had come to save his sorry ass, at the time he must have seemed so pathetic in the sand ninja's eyes. Sure Neji had been banged around quite a bit but at least he WON his fight, damn it even Chouji had managed to beat his opponent, so why did Lee need Gaara's help?

"Because... I'm just pathetic..." Lee stood up and put his water back into the fridge, when he turned back around he caught sight of himself in the mirror that Tenten had put up, at first he ignored the sad excuse for a ninja in the mirror but soon curiosity got the better of him.

He slowly walked over to the reflection and peered into it, seeing the bed tangled hair of no one other then himself, to say the least he looked like he had been run over by a thousand Naruto on a one-track-mind course for Ichiraku Ramen. His eyes sported dark purple rings around his lower eyes and the normally bright and cheery auburn orbs were now dull and fatigued. His eyes themselves had changed slightly over the past two years, becoming less round and more slim, older looking, and not as childish. He was also in desperate need of a haircut because his hair looked unkempt and messy which wasn't exactly a bad thing but he needed to get that fixed.

In his pajama bottoms he looked like a normal person, not a shinobi at all, but he still feared somewhere in the back of his mind that he was relying on his sensei a bit too much lately. Even thinking these thoughts made him want to seek the jonin's expert opinion but he shook his head and made a silent resolve; as of tomorrow he would be Lee, **_just_** Lee, and rely only on himself.

He needed to stand on his own two feet for once, and if he couldn't, then he would never succeed as a true shinobi. With that resolved he trekked back into his room and tried to sleep once more, pulling the slightly warm and comfy covers over him and wrapped them around his shoulders. He squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to force himself into a sleep, when it finally did claim him it was dreamless and fitful with unseen terrors resting on the surface.

-----

Tenten had a knack for knowing when something was wrong, specifically if it had anything to do with Lee, and when you see your Gai-Sensei-Twin show up for training in a light t-shirt sleeved Chinese uniform with a white top and green bottoms you start to worry. Even the orange leg warmers were gone and replaced with bandages that wrapped the weights around his calves and supported his ankles. She watched him pound the crap out of the tree before him, his moves precise, cut, and scarily fierce so that even Neji steered clear of him that day. He looked like he had something to prove, and they weren't about to get in the way even if Tenten wanted to confront him about the huge black rings around his eyes.

Tenten flipped in the air and whipped two kunai straight for the Hyuuga prodigy, the blades slicing through the air with such speed and precision that it would have been impossible for a normal person to dodge, but Neji wasn't normal. He spun around quickly and deflected the deadly blades with ease and slowed down with just enough time to catch the next pair and throw them back at her moving form with a rather effortless ease. She just as swiftly danced around these blades and pulled out a summoning scroll and called fourth a pair of long wooden polls before charging head on for the silver eyes companion. She threw one high in the air and spun the other around her wrists, slamming one of the ends into Neji's chest before catching the other one and coming at him win an onslaught of attacks. Neji kept up after recovering from the initial shock and blocked all of them with his gentle fist technique, trying to get some of his own hits in but only managing to skim her arm or clothing with his attempts.

With Neji preoccupied with deflecting her quick jabs, she cast away the staff with her right hand and focused on attacking him with one, easily becoming quicker and more forceful with both hands on the staff at once. When she had him on the defensive she used one hand to reach into her weapons pouch and took out three shuriken. In one lightning quick movement she caught him off guard by jumping back and whipping the shuriken at him, his eyes widened and he had to sloppily dive off to the right as to not get the full blunt to the attack. The one shuriken nicked his arm and sent a thin trail of blood into the air, when he landed on the ground Tenten was slightly smug to see that she had given him a nice scratch on his shoulder.

Neji didn't lose time getting back up and charging for her, this time he was taking the initiative, throttling her with a couple amazing combos that left her no time to retreat. He found an opening and hit her arm with his gentle fist, stopping the chakra flow to one part of her arm, noting the disability she jumped back and tried to hit him with a barrage with weapons to allow herself time to recover.

When their spar was done it was an hour later and both of them were breathing heavily and Neji was now bleeding with a couple wounds, whereas Tenten had no movement in her left arm and bruises that were appearing on her stomach and right arm. They turned simultaneously to see Lee casually leaning against a tree, a calculating look in his eye, his arms were crossed over his chest and he was staring at the both of them unnervingly. Neji noted his expression as something he tended to look at Lee with, somewhere in those eyes Neji saw something he never expected to see; a darkness. It was almost like the look that made you feel like you were stripped down to nothing and he was looking right through you, like you didn't exist in his world. Lee broke the eye contact by uncrossing his arms and turning on his heel to delve deeper into the forest, as if dismissing Neji and Tenten completely.

"What was that about?" Tenten breathed quietly as Lee disappeared from view without a word to either of them, "He was giving you a look, like he was angry with you or something..." She didn't understand what had ever gone on between her two teammates and she didn't plan on trying to analyze it anytime soon, but seeing LEE give NEJI a bone-chilling look wasn't something she was used to.

"I don't know... but I'm going to find out..." Neji followed the white and green clad ninja into the forest, leaving Tenten to mutter something about stupid testosterone boys and then leave to go get something to eat.

----

Lee brushed past the trees and brush around him, his feet crunched heavily in the dead leaves and broken branches. He needed to get away from them, something was definately wrong with him; he felt so angry all of the sudden, like he was mad with himself for something unknown. He sighed and tried to calm down, running a bandaged hand through his hair and stopping in what could be considered a small clearing in which the trees didn't grow around each other in a 15 foot radius. He picked the biggest tree that was approximately five feet wide, said a small appoligy and then punched it as hard as he could with his left hand.

He knew he had some rage issues when he realized the damage he had done to the tree, it had broken right in half and was falling backwards. He cursed and in the blink of an eye was around to the other side and helping the tree to fall slower so that it wouldn't damage many of the other trees and foliage around it. He sat on the now dislodged tree trunk and stared at the blood dripping down his knuckles, he shook his hand to numb the pain a little bit then rested it gingerly on his propped up knee.

He didn't know that smashing down trees could feel so refreshing.

Now that he had that out of his system he could think a little clearer, maybe.

What was wrong with him, he felt so strange, like there was something out of place, something that didn't really belong there. He could feel it, he could see every single flaw that Neji and Tenten made and it had seriously made him wonder why Neji had ever been such a threat to him, he made mistakes like EVERY OTHER HUMAN BEING. So why had it taken him so long to see that, why was everything he knew suddenly falling apart all around him? Well... the trees were his fault, he had punched that one in the training grounds a little too hard, but he had never expected it to go FLYING, I mean who punches a tree so far it goes _flying_?

Great, now he knew he was stronger when he was moody AND when he was drunk, what was next; wearing the color pink?

Okay **_that_** brought up a rather scary mental image.

He heard the footsteps before they even reached the clearing, he could tell by the attempt to be quiet and the pace patterns that it was Neji, something he had gotten used to hearing when the Hyuuga walked away from him after training together, not even bothering to help him up... He waited until Neji was safely in the clearing before indicating his acknowledgement, he wondered if Neji would be able to dodge a kunai because he sure felt like throwing something at him... Damnit, first he's got to punch something and NOW he feels like throwing something? Will this rage EVER die down? It was starting to scare him...and it was rather childish too.

Neji had been a bit surprised to hear the large bang in the direction that he had been walking towards, but at least now he knew who caused it, seeing Lee sitting atop the almost completely shattered tree stirred something in his gut. He wondered if talking to Lee was really going to help matters, maybe it was best for the taijutsu ninja to take it out on something IN-human. Yet at the same time he felt curious to see just how far he could push Lee before it was NEJI on the ground looking up and not the normal other way around. He had a competitive spirit that had normally been clenched by Lee's constant challenges but he guessed he kind of missed sparring with him, Lee always had new tricks up his sleeve whenever they fought next, it kept Neji sharp. Lee hadn't challenged him in THREE months, and it was starting to worry both Tenten and the silver eyed Hyuuga, then add the dark rings around Lee's eyes, the silence whenever Gai was around and even the cold chilling glare he sometimes fixated on them was enough to make them suspicious.

Neji was starting to see what HE had been like before his fight with Naruto, how distant and uncaring he had been and it was coming out in the way Lee was acting then. It was as though Lee didn't see Neji as a challenge anymore or simply didn't care and that was very... UN-Lee of him to say the very least. The branch member of the Hyuuga family tread onward, he told himself that it was because he just wanted to fight Lee and get it over with but he knew deep down that he wanted to know what was wrong because it had been Lee who tried to be friends with him the past few years.

He felt he should at least make an effort to be friendly considering that it had been the guy before him who had laid flowers on his fathers grave when Neji said he couldn't go. Every year Neji had done so on his fathers birthday, and he had to leave for a mission, when he got back the bouquet of flowers was there and Lee was talking to the grave, saying he had never met his dad but his son couldn't be there so he felt someone should do it.

Come to think of it, the bushy browed team mate had always been there for Tenten too. Always letting her stay over when she locked herself out of her own house (it happened often) and even taking the fall for her when she sprained her ankle and let a wanted man get away before they could catch up and take him in to custody. Neither Tenten nor Neji really wanted to admit it, but without Lee their team would be rather boring...

Finding a remotely safe topic to start up the conversation Neji dove off the deep end, "So, Gai Sensei should be back in a few days," he ventured calmly taking another few steps forwards, "he'll probably want to know how we've been training lately..."

Lee seemed genuinely confused, "So? We'll just tell him that I decided to train on my own and you sparred with Tenten-san," he gazed back at his knuckles as though something was wrong with them then added, "or was there something else I didn't catch in that statement?"

Neji gave him a very dark look, "You just said Tenten-SAN..." that caught Lee's attention, "I can understand if you call me 'Hyuuga' or 'Neji-san', but TENTEN?" he crossed his arms across his chest and stared point-blank at the other boy in the clearing.

"Look, Neji-s-"

"You haven't asked me to fight you in FOUR months. You aren't acting like yourself-" Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

Lee turned to ice and in an instant he was mere feet away from the Hyuuga without batting an eyelash he had moved so quickly that Neji had almost no time to react to the sudden blur. It took all his self restraint not to go into a defensive stance in wonder if Lee would strike him or not. When the other boy did speak it was with such a calm and deadly voice that Neji knew he was speaking to a whole new Lee, not the one he had grown up with or fought against since becoming a Genin.

"How do you know what I act like Neji," He took a threatening step forwards. "I'm not some random specimen that you can see right through," another crunch of sandal's meeting leaves and gravel, "and you certainly haven't shown any interest in wanting to get to know me any more then you need to," Neji had to halt every last muscle as to not back away. "Admit that to you I'm nothing but another jounin that isn't worth your precious time so you can stop pretending like you have to give a damn."

For the first time since they had met all those years ago Neji was seeing the deepest part of Lee that he had never seen before, all the anger, betrayal, helplessness, pain, it was coming to the surface and it was about freaking time too. Everything the taijutsu master had kept bottled up or beat down with cheerfulness was coming back full force and he knew that everything Lee was saying was out of spite and hurt. Neji understood he could blame himself for this, when all the times he could have been a better teammate he was a jeering rival and all the times he could have supported Lee he ripped him down.

"You're right about one thing," if Lee hit him so be it, at least it would make them both feel better, "I don't know you, or the you that is speaking right now...I've never seen him around before."

Lee looked so defeated, like all the anger had been drained out of him and now there was nothing left but a dull ache. He looked like regret was clearly on his face, he probably didn't feel too bad about saying those things to Neji but he felt horrible that he was taking it OUT on Neji. There was a long pause in which Lee looked off to the side and his eyes filled with an emotion that Neji couldn't read, a memory newly resurfaced.

"Neji... I can't keep taking this out on you, I can't take it out on Tenten either because I'll just end up regretting it and ruining the trust between our team... for a little while leave me alone, okay? You had your time after Naruto was done with you do get your head straight, and I may not know why this started happening but I think I'm going to need that same time to sort this out... even just find out where all this hate and anger came from..."

There was an understanding nod in which the prodigy tried to think of what he could say to comfort the other, "Tenten will talk to you about it, you know..." he muttered, giving the whole 'friendship' thing his best shot.

A wiry smile, "What, you don't want to listen?"

"Since when have I been a good listener when it came to feelings?"

"Point taken I suppose..."

Neji gingerly placed his hand on Lee's shoulder, "I can't help you, unless you want to pound the shit out of each other then you can call me... but Tenten seems to be better at REALLY knowing what's wrong... she calls it motherly instincts, I just call it being nosey."

Lee took a step back to get away from the touch, "Yeah, but right now I'll just go home and sleep..."

"Good idea, I'll send her over tomorrow morning..."

Lee didn't know how to say he'd 'see him later' after taking his anger out on him so he simply nodded and left in a whirl of leaves and air, leaving Neji to try and figure out how the hell he was going to explain what had just happened to the final member of their team. He quietly made the trek back to the village and sought her out in Ichiraku Ramen, when he did end up getting her attention he dragged her off to the Hyuuga compound where they could get some quiet; saying it was going to take a while to explain.

(A.N: This is getting really dark! Yikes! I've got to lighten it up somehow!) 

Lee closed his door behind him and leaned against the solid wooden doors for support, he didn't know what had gotten into him that day and he really wanted to figure out why. He ran a hand tiredly through his longer hair, scratching his skull sleepily then looking down at his bandages realizing that they were coming undone around his legs.

"You're tired... just go to bed and then everything will be okay once you catch up on the fifty or so hours you've lost..." He dragged himself to his room, throwing his weights and bandages off, then shuffling over to the bathroom.

He turned the cold metal knob to start the warm water feeling the mist raise up from the scolding hot water, he waited until it had cooled down and then checked the temperature with his hand; completely forgetting about the earlier cut. He hissed in pain while withdrawing the throbbing appendage and cursing himself silently for not remembering that the cut was there and that he should have cleaned it out. While the water was running steadily he pulled out his first aid kit so he could use it after he had washed up. He peeled his sweaty uniform off of his chest, and then looked down at his grimy pants then decided he was either too lazy or didn't care enough to take them off. He jumped into the warm shower and let the heat spread over his tense muscles, remembering that he hadn't stretched after his training and would be sore in the morning because of it. He didn't care that his wet clothes were on the bathroom floor in a heap at the time he was pulling on new underwear and pants, all he wanted to so was go crawling into bed for a hopefully long and refreshing sleep.

It wasn't the soothing pitter patter of rain on his roof that woke him up in the midst of the night, it also wasn't the light knock on his door, it was the impatient flare of chakra that he was long since trained himself to wake up from that pulled him from his slumber. He was alert in an instant, springing up from his bed and assessing the situation, he was able to pick out someone with achingly familiar chakra patterns but couldn't sense anyone else. He crept into the kitchen, his feet making the softest patting noise on the floor that was drowned out by the sound of the rain outside, once he reached the door, the lightning started and he saw the silhouette of someone with soaking wet short hair.

Casting his caution out the window he unlocked the door and opened it slowly, his eyes squinting to see the characteristics of the person before him. The rain was cascading off of the overhang and flowing onto his unknown visitor, making him look more like he was having a shower, not standing out in the rain. From what the black-haired shinobi could see the person before him was a boy, about six inches shorter then him with unruly hair that was plastered to his face and neck. He could see the coat the boy was wearing from the glare of the clock on Lee's kitchen stove, but otherwise he was simply an ominous dark figure, with something resembling a huge backpack on his shoulders. When another flash of lightning came followed by thunder this time, he saw just who his midnight visitor was.

"Gaara-sama?!" Lee's eyes shot open wide in shock, his mind unable to comprehend that Subaku no Gaara was standing on his front door step soaking wet, he stopped and closed his wide-open mouth, "C-come in! You're soaking wet!" He remembered his manners and stepped out of the way to let the poor damp shinobi in to dry off.

The redhead hesitated, and then took an uneasy step into the warmer house, his body felt numb from being pounded by drops of rain for so long, but he could already feel the difference in the cozy little home. He stood in the entrance of the house awkwardly, not knowing what he should say or do as the taller boy reached past him, swung the door shut, and locked it with practiced ease. He knew he was dripping rain all over Lee's kitchen floor but the owner of the house didn't seem to mind, he was much too busy worrying about how Gaara could catch a cold with his wet clothes on.

"-you should have a shower, I'll get you some new clothes to wear..." was what the taijutsu master was currently saying, studying Gaara with one arm crossed over his chest and the other hand being supported by it, his fingertip tapping his chin in a thoughtful gesture. He was studying the sand shinobi, watching as the water dripped down his skin and clothes with a worried expression on his face. His eyes flashed with a newly resolved decision and he gently took Gaara by the arm and brought him more into the middle of the room so he could get a better look at him. "Here, I'll dry your coat to..." He more **forced** then simply _helped _to peel the layer off of Gaara's wet form and then hung it up on an empty hanger.

When he turned around he noticed what the sand shinobi was wearing; it was a long sleeved red shirt and black pants that had both been soaked through, he definitely didn't look like the Kazekage of another allying village, more like a sopping wet orphan who didn't have anywhere to go. Dare Lee think it, but the boy before him looked more like a cute younger kid.

He snapped out of his daze when Gaara unconsciously crossed his arms across his chest in an embarrassed manner, looking to the side, pretending to survey the surroundings. Lee realized, once again, that the other must have been freezing, even in his warmer home, he excused himself to go get a towel for the boy and on his way to the washroom remembered the mess he had left in there when he had showered hours before. He quickly cleaned that up and then grabbed Gaara a towel. "Here, you can use my washroom to clean up, I'll put some clothes on the counter for you when you've finished." He ushered his guest into the bathroom and didn't give him time to protest before the door clicked shut, putting up more then one barrier between them.

Gaara stood there, unable to think of anything else to do but what the owner of the house had suggested, he turned on the water to a hot temperature and then stopped before he took off his clothes to observe himself in the mirror before him above the sink. His hair was almost in his eyes and his small form looked even less menacing when his clothes hung off of him like he was a drowned rat. His skin contrasted greatly with the deep crimson clothing and made him seem like he had an even fairer colored face, his shirt covered the ends of his hands, and looked more like a dress then it did a shirt.

He pulled it over his head, glad to get rid of the evil thing Temari had made him wear, then concentrated more on why he had even decided to come to Lee's house when Naruto's would have been more practical. He had idly heard the address to where the bushy browed ninja lived but never thought he would be able to recall it so easily when he was looking for a place to stay. It was probably because he knew the other guy was too damn nice to turn someone down, even if they were a potential threat, some called it kindness, others called it stupidity.

He began to strip off his other clothes, feeling a little bit of remorse for leaving them on the floor so messily, so he picked them up and placed them on the counter, he wet to go step in the shower when there was a knock on the door. He froze, remembering that Lee had said he would bring him some clothes to change into, he grabbed the towel and wrapped it around his waist before slowly opening the door.

Lee smiled friendly and handed him the new clothes with a polite and simple 'here you go, Gaara-sama', then reached past him again, brushing his arm with his own grabbing Gaara's wet clothes to dry them off. Gaara simply stood there statuesque, waiting for Lee to close the door and end the little spell he had on the shorter boy. It took him a while, but he snapped out of his daze when the other closed the door behind him and then finally had his shower, consciously noting that the curtains were opaque, but not understanding why this comforted him so.

The half-dressed ninja had everything cleaned up before the redhead emerged from the bathroom in a pair of borrowed pajama bottoms and a big green sweater, they looked a bit large for him, but the pants stayed on okay with the drawstrings tied tightly. The pants themselves were a comfy black material with dark green vertical stripes on them that made it match the large, soft leaf green sweater.

"They don't look too bad," Commented Rock Lee, tilting his head to the side slightly, observing how his clothes fit the younger kazekage, "Well, I guess you'll have to make do with those for now, your stuff is in the drier and your bag is soaking wet... whatever was in it... but I didn't see your gourd?" Lee realized that asking Gaara a personal question like that was really none of his business but decided to just busy himself by making his guest a drink of tea. "Do you mind tea? I don't have coffee and Tenten always stocks up here because she always loses her house keys and stays over, have you met Tenten?." He started up a conversation, trying not to seem rude and hopefully saving himself from an awkward moment. He busied himself with getting the fixing for the drink, his back still turned to the black-rimmed eyes of the kazekage, he didn't want to offend him, lest face the wrath of Tsunade. "If you don't want tea I have-"

"Tea is fine." Lee was astounded to hear the shinobi across the room speak his first words that night, he didn't know if he had expected him to be silent and expectant like Neji always was but something about it really confused him. Gaara's voice was calm and collected, but still soft as if he was afraid to raise it above a whisper and cut through the other's words. There was the sound of a step forwards, as if he was on the verge of deciding to do something then stopped because he was unable to make a clear decision.

Lee had stopped all movement, his arm outstretched to grab the tea bags and put them into the tea cups, the action had been cut off, and now his hand was dangling there with nothing to do so he lowered it to the counter. He turned on the spot, feeling the need to make eye contact with the usually silent person in the room, he supposed that he was so used to the Hyuuga prodigy being blunt and supposed that because this person was also a prodigy that they would act similar. He had mistaken Gaara for Neji, something he wouldn't have noticed if Tenten was there because they were so used to pretty much ignoring Neji and talking to each other, knowing that the white eyed teammate usually never spoke to them unless he had something to say. He always appeared to be above whatever they were talking about, because normally it was about the stresses of housework and laughing over life's little things that Neji either didn't care about or had already discovered and was wondering why they hadn't sooner.

He knew how Neji acted when they were alone together, and it normally was silent, aside from a one-sided conversation from Lee who would desperately try to keep some form of answer flowing from the fellow shinobi. He guessed that he hadn't realized that this WASN'T Neji and that he shouldn't assume that Gaara didn't want to talk to him and had a stick stuck up his ass (Neji's wasn't as bad as it was before, Naruto had pulled a part of it out).

He offered a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I was getting carried away, you probably don't want to answer all these silly questions... I guess I'm just not used to your company." His excellent hearing picked up the rumbling of the water beginning to heat up in the kettle so he knew it would take about one hundred and eighty seconds to start to whistle; he had a little bit of an obsession with counting and numbers, everything could be counted to him. "Neji is always quiet and expects me to know what he wants to drink; which normally makes me feel a bit pressured and Tenten just blurts all she wants out and does it for herself so..." He started to explain further then realized that he didn't know how to end the sentence and simply let it hang off, letting the other person in the room fill it in for himself.

There was a pregnant pause in the space around them, neither seemed to know what to do or say until Gaara realized that the spotlight was on him and he should make an effort to break the silence. He shifted slightly, resting his weight on his right hip and transferring his tension to the right knee instead of an even distribution. For some odd reason he had a fixation with rearranging things so they weren't orderly anymore, he hated even numbers and when things were properly aligned in a uniform state.

He always thought it was a part of being slightly insane from having a demon live inside of him.

"I like earl grey," He offered fourth finally, taking the necessary steps it took to get to the table and put his hands on the chair that wasn't even in his normal path, but off to the left side. Sometimes he didn't even notice he did the un-norm, but other people -like his sister- loved to constantly point it out as one of his little quirks, if there was another way to do it, the Gods knew that Gaara would find it. "But I'll put my own sugar and milk in, if you don't mind..."

Lee had focused on every single step that it had taken Gaara to get from the doorframe to the table; it was exactly ten steps compared to Lee's usual six strides. He needed to stop counting things automatically... it would scare the first person who ever found it out.

"Sure thing," it appeared as though nothing had conspired in that few seconds it had taken the shorter boy to get to the middle of the kitchen but the owner of the house could already tell that he and Gaara would get along just fine. One of the things Lee would never admit to his byakugan companion was that Neji Hyuuga walked in uneven intervals and it annoyed him to no end. Every time they would stop walking once they reached a destination Neji would take ONE MORE STEP to make it uneven, sometimes the bushy browed ninja wondered if the genius did it on purpose just because it not-so-secretly aggravated him.

When counting things it was normally done when Lee was nervous or bored, never when he was on a mission or thinking about something that required his full attention, sometimes when he was training he would do it as though playing a game with himself, but otherwise it was out of pure disinterest or anxiety. As mentioned before, the konoha native didn't want to upset his village's guest, so counting out everything was calming him down and helping him relax.

The harsh whistle sounded exactly on his inner count and the number-obsessed nin turned to finish pouring the hot water into the cups then setting them on the table right in front of where Gaara was standing and on the opposite side of the table, just to be safe. He placed the milk and sugar in plain reach of both of them then sat back to wait for his tea to brew. The one-tails host noticed that Lee had sat to the left of where he had initially had been standing as well, and had walked _around_ the chair to sit down, not sliding into the chair as anyone normally would. Did he even notice that he did that, or maybe the redhead wasn't giving him enough credit and the black-haired boy had him completely figured out?

"Gaara-sama, I don't mean to poke into your personal affairs but what brings you to Konoha?" He poked his tea bag with his spoon, holding it beneath the water for exactly six seconds before letting it rise to the top, "unless it's none of my business and you'd rather not say?"

Gaara watched him for a moment, gauging his question then trying to come of with an answer that would satisfy the other shinobi; he was rather embarrassed as to WHY he was in the leaf village. Who had ever heard of the Kazekage needing a vacation after only a few years as the village leader, was he doing THAT bad of a job?

"They thought I needed a break," He replied truthfully.

"'They'?" Repeated the other boy for clarification, not knowing much about politics to understand whom the kazekage could have been referring to and why they had enough power to dictate what the Suna citizen should do.

"My council," explained the redhead briefly, stirring his cup of tea counterclockwise slowly (exactly 16 times as Lee observed) and not knowing how else to get into more detail.

"Oh, I see..." muttered Lee softly, unable to say anything else; not wanting to seem niece in that field of conversation and annoying the respected village leader, he broke eye contact and gazed down at his own mug poking at the tea bag idly.

Gaara realized that it was a pretty bleak explanation for someone who didn't deal with politics every day and that the other boy probably didn't really understand the concept. He inhaled and began to go more into detail, "My council doesn't have any real control over my actions, but sometimes when Suna's best interests are in question citizens can be asked to come to meetings and take a general vote. During the last few weeks the head of finance has been pushing the idea of a vacation so that I can have a few months to tie up any loose ends I may have, I've told them many times that I didn't need one but they insisted and even got a town meeting scheduled so that people could vote. Many people got up and said they still wanted me as the kazekage, but that at my age I shouldn't be committed to the office alone and should be allowed time away from the office monthly."

Lee was awe-struck at the kindness of the people of Suna, they must really care about their leader to suggest such a thing, "They must really appreciate you," he quickly interjected, "they're looking out for your best interests..." He was glad to see that whatever bad blood had been between Gaara and his people was being forgotten and the villagers were moving on with their lives and treating their Kazekage with respect and sincerity.

Dark-rimmed eyes didn't look convinced, "Or they just want me to leave for a while every month so they don't feel suffocated and can say it with that kind of cover-up."

Lee jumped at the thought of such a negative out-look, immediately diving in with his own opinion. "I think you don't trust them enough! You shouldn't-"

He clamped his mouth shut, his brain finally catching up with what he was saying, he realized that he had started to stand up and that the other had shifted uncomfortably as if sensing danger. He cursed in his mind, wanting to go run fifty laps around the village to remind him that Gaara was the LEADER of Suna and OBVIOUSLY knew what he was talking about; who was he to say that someone of his stature was wrong? He sat up straight in his chair and bowed his head slightly, "Sorry, I don't have the right to criticize you, you've done a great job as the leader and-"

"If I wanted to hear that I would have gone to see Haruno-san, who would agree with anything I said politically... I know you have opinions because I've heard them before, and I'm not above you, if anything, you are above me."

That definitely caught the leaf shinobi's attention because his head snapped up to level with the aqua gaze, disbelief clearly written on his face at the casualness the leader before him had presented. He knew he was older then Gaara, but never had he considered himself anything less then an ally at best. The two of them had never really spoken since the fight long ago when Kimimaro had almost killed them both but Lee knew that a spark of companionship had happened somewhere in there and it had stayed in his mind for quite some time afterwards. To the amber eyed jounin, the boy before him was Gaara-sama and when he had been given the title Kazekage Lee had completely given up his initial idea of becoming a good friend with him. He had always been polite in passing, even asking how the redhead was every once and a while when he appeared to not be extremely busy and on his way somewhere. Yet, he had always wanted to get to know him better, perhaps seeing the great opportunity in having a friend that would be amazing to train with or that sometimes Lee could see a small bit of his past sadness swirling somewhere in the corner of those nearly emotionless eyes.

"I don't understand," Lee blurted out suddenly, "How am I above you, when you're the leader of a village and have the respect of millions of people?"

There was that flash of pain again, "Their respect is out of fear that I'll start knocking them off one by one if they don't submit to my rule." Those eyes softened with a long lost memory as he reached out to take the sugar and put a couple spoon full in. "And besides, people respect you even though you don't have a title and are just a simple jounin, to your fellow villagers you are a hero regardless of how crazy they think you look." There was that same bluntness in his voice that he was used to hearing from Neji, but noticed at the same time that it was completely different. He knew that the town's people thought him a bit odd because of his interesting fashion sense, but when running he sentence over in his mind he realized that Gaara had compared the two of them, something he wasn't used to hearing in a positive way.

"With all due respect-"

"Stop that." Glare.

"Stop what?" Oblivious stare.

Gaara sighed impatiently, "The whole '-sama' and respect thing, speak to me as if I'm Naruto, he doesn't care WHO he's talking to that's why it's refreshing to hear someone aside from your sister yell at you."

Lee smiled, trying to picture NEJI saying that but failing miserably, instead of talking to Naruto, he pictured Tenten instead, the same Tenten who would come to him when she was upset and tell him all her insecurities.

"Well, I'd like a reason WHY I shouldn't completely respect you as my superior."

Gaara jumped on that one immediately, "For many reasons: 1)" he held up a finger to add emphasis, his expression serious, "you were the first person to ever injure me. 2) You were the only person who ever tried to protect me. 3) you never gave up even when the odds were against you no matter what age you were," Lee had a suspicion that the sand ninja researched that because there was a bit of envy that momentarily washed over his collected face. "4) No one I've met so far doesn't know who you are and -aside from your clothes- has nothing but praise when talking about you. 5) Life didn't come easily to you like it did a genius, but you've still managed to somehow surpass the norm and your status is right up at genius level.-"

"Okay, okay!" Lee was turning red with embarrassment; he was waving his arms around in a gesture of 'understanding' "I get it! I won't call you Gaara-sama! But I just have one question... when did I ever protect you?"

The redhead looked like he wanted to smile but was trying to figure out how, "When we were fighting Kimimaro," his voice was soft and reflective again, "When I was knocked down you tried to buy me time by attacking him," Lee's face lit up when he finally remembered.

"That's right! I was worried you received critical damage... you really went flying far." He felt a bit embarrassed for forgetting something like that, but he supposed that he wanted to forget the whole thing and let bygones be bygones.

"I survived the Omote Renge, didn't I?" He took a sip of his tea before continuing, "And you may not have noticed because you've done it so many times, but no one has ever tried to protect me, not even my siblings."

Lee shrugged it off, "Yeah but you aren't normally one to get hurt, are you? Besides, what kind of person leaves someone to die, it goes against every moral I have!" Lee's passionate side was coming out again, his fist was clenched in the air and eyes burned of determination. "Those who would leave a comrade in the middle of a fight are as low as those who prey on the elderly and women who can't protect themselves!" If Gaara could sweat drop he would, because anyone else in that situation would have started laughing or stared at him as if he was nuts.

"But that's what makes you you, isn't it?" Gaara felt as though he had finally gotten his point across and sat back in satisfaction.

"...I guess you're right, my morals would be different from someone elses..." Lee awkwardly sat back down and coughed into his hand, suddenly feeling like his normal self again.

There was a comforting silence as they both drank some of their tea, but something that had been bothering the taijutsu master was coming back full force and just had to be asked. "Why did you decide to come to my house Gaara-san, when normally you're always talking to Naruto?" He wondered if he should say more then remembered what point they had just gotten over, "And how did you even know where I LIVE?"

Being caught off guard was beginning to become a norm when with Lee, he guessed he just had to get used to it. He had never had someone ask to politely and earnestly before, everything the other did and said was genuine, unlike many other people who were nice to him because they were scared of him or of offending him.

"I don't know, honestly,"

Lee had never met anyone who could speak with such confidence, and yet sound emotionless or serious whenever he spoke, he supposed that Gaara wasn't used to having regular conversations with people and not with a council where you had to sound diplomatic all the time. He wondered if the sand-user would stay around long enough for him to start to get used to his behavior, or if he would leave the next day in search of someplace new.

People could tell a lot of things just by looking at someone's eyes, their facial features could stay the same, but if you looked at the eyes you could tell just what emotion the person was feeling. Which was why in interrogations the ANBU watched the persons eyes and actions, other then listen to what they had to say. With the Kazekage before him, it was almost like that, his voice may have a lack of expression, but his eyes had too much of it, even when he moved Lee knew he was being either passionate about his words or if he was confused or felt restless.

"You must be tired," Gaara shifted in a way that made him guess that he was either right on the money and the redhead didn't want to say or that it had caught him off-guard. "why don't you finish up your tea and I'll get the spare room made for you?" He paused at the door, tinking about how up-lifted he felt then, like all those bad vibes had been completely erased the talking with Gaara. "And Gaara-kun," Gaara looked at him suspiciously and surprised to hear someone call him by that horrific, "Thank you, you don't really know, but before you came I wasn't feeling very well and for some odd reason talking with you made me feel better..." He offered a small smile then left to do what he had said before leaving Gaara to muse over that last statement.

He guessed that was what he felt too, he had felt a little weird before he came there, like something had been unsettling him but after talking with the taijutsu master he suddenly felt... better about whatever it was.

Lee was different, but then again, so was he... Gaara supposed that somehow that's what would help them become friends.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Katsu: O.o; I just FINISHED a one-shot! Holy crap!

Sin:...wow...and it wasn't even romance!

Katsu: YAY! GAARA AND LEE FRIENDSHIP FIC! That CAN be taken as a light love but yeah... if you want me to continue I will need at least ten reviews! Otherwise I hope you enjoyed that, I know I did!

Sin: You know, for a non-romance... it wasn't that bad, but Neji was a little-

Katsu: OOC, I know... I tried to make him as in character as I could, but he had to fit that one mould to make Lee react the way he did, because when NEJI sees how upset you are and feels the need to TALK to you about it, you know you're being pretty damn dark and gloomy.

I left a lot of loose ends, like you didn't even see Gai Sensei and his reaction to Lee's new clothing, and you didn't really see what happens the day after... but if you all want I could make this into a short story...JUST REVIEW! PLEASE! and Kayori doesn't count... because... she ALWAYS reviews! Not that I don't love her though!

((Cookies for KayoriHoshi who is my rabid fangirl!)) this one is for you Kayori, simply because it DOESN'T have any couples in it and is GENERAL which is a totally new thing for me... So instead of Yaoi... you get friendship... ((bright smile and huggles her))

Sin: review or else... I will eat your soul!... Which will happen anyways when I take over the world... but if you want to live for a few more years then REVIEW!

Katsu: You can't THREATEN them!

Sin: as the demon embedded in your head I can do whatever the HELL I want!

Katsu: No she is not a 'tails' but she's damn annoying anyways... you know what? I need a GOOD spirit to counter-balance you!

Sin:... okay, I'll kill whoever it is...

Katsu: hmn... I'll just have to find it then... Ja Ne Mina!

Sin: Ciao..

Katsu: And thanks again to Crimson-chan!

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